Pain management clinic gets tough on patients

WILLIAMSVILLE, N.Y. (WIVB) - The painful consequences of prescription drug abuse can tear a family apart. A local doctor is now taking drastic steps to find out if his patients are abusing their medication.

Dr. Eugene Gosy founded New York State's largest pain management clinic in Williamsville. He says for some people he's a lifesaver.

"We hear testimonials that we are the last stop because the patients would either jump off the Grand Island bridge or do something else to harm themselves because they don't want to live like that," he said.

Dr. Gosy's 13-year-old clinic sees up to 10,000 active annual patients. Ninety percent of them are on some type of opiate-based drug to help them manage their pain.

Recently, Dr. Gosy contacted News 4 saying he had decided to take drastic action with his patients to prevent them from abusing their meds.

WEB EXTRA | Prescription drug abuse has become so prevalent, lawmakers enacted a new law to combat the problem. Read about the I-STOP Law here

Dr. Gosy noted, "As the drug seeking is become more and more sophisticated, so is the monitoring."

His new protocol requires patients to agree to random testing of their urine. This tells him if they are abusing their meds, in which case he'll find them treatment, or not using at all, which may be a sign they are selling the drugs illegally. And what happens if a patient refuses to be tested? He drops them.

Dr. Gosy said, "We'd like to ensure that the prescriptions are given for the right patient for the right reasons and being used for that purpose."

Cheryl Placek wishes that her son Daniel, a 28-year-old year Navy veteran, had been monitored more closely when he was seeing Dr. Gosy for back pain.

She said, "He was a good kid. He was our only child. He was prescribed an opiate and I never knew what an opiate was."

Placek says Daniel became addicted. That's when Dr. Gosy reportedly put him on suboxone, which is used to treat opiate addiction. But she says by that time it was too late.

"And that's when the problems began even more is when he went into withdrawal. We could see upon withdrawal is when the suicidal thoughts were there," Placek said.

Last January, Daniel ended his life while a patient at the Veterans Administration Hospital.

Placek said, "That first night he was there, he hung himself in the building."

HIPPA Laws prevent Dr. Gosy from addressing specific cases, but he did say:

"Well, I'm sorry about the loss. The medications, if monitored and prescribed correctly, tend not to be the source of all evils. Such bad outcomes, I suspect, is due to a multiplicity of factors," he said.

News 4 has been covering the topic of painkiller abuse and addiction extensively - and we've seen it can be controversial. Avi Israel also lost a son to suicide after he became addicted to prescription drugs.

"We've lost our kids and hopefully we're making an impact and we're making a change. Now it's up to doctors to do their part," Israel said.

Doctors, parents and law enforcement all agree that a new law enacted by lawmakers called "I-STOP" will be an important preventative mechanism in prescription drug abuse.

A DEA agent said, "It gives them the ability to take the patient's name, run it into the I-STOP system and ensure that patient is getting the medication in a proper format."

I-STOP created a real-time, online database for doctors and pharmacists to report and track medications, so they know their patients' histories. Having more information could lessen the opportunities for abuse.

Placek urged, "Just use more discretion. My son never had a surgery; he had back pain. And now we visit him at the Gate of Heaven Cemetery."